CIS Secretary-General: Isolating Afghanistan ‘Not the Solution’

June 29, 2026
Mitra Majeedy
Tolo News
26 JUNE 2026

He also emphasized that regional security cannot be ensured without Afghanistan’s participation in Eurasian economic and transit projects.CIS Secretary-General: Isolating Afghanistan ‘Not the Solution’

Amid growing regional engagement with Afghanistan, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) says isolating the country is not a solution and will only lead to a dead end.

Speaking at the 12th Primakov Readings International Scientific and Expert Forum, Sergey Lebedev stressed that CIS member states maintain a pragmatic dialogue with Afghanistan’s authorities and encourage them to combat ISIS-K and drug trafficking.

He also emphasized that regional security cannot be ensured without Afghanistan’s participation in Eurasian economic and transit projects.

Sergey Lebedev, Secretary-General of the CIS, said: “We fully understand that isolating Kabul is a dead end. Regional security is not possible without Afghanistan’s participation in Eurasian economic and transit projects. CIS countries maintain a pragmatic dialogue with Afghanistan’s de facto authorities and encourage them to fight ISIS-K and the production of narcotics.”

Political analyst Maiwand Jurat said: “If they follow through on this approach, it will have a positive impact on Afghanistan’s development, as well as on regional security and prosperity.”

Another political analyst, Khalil Ahmad Nadem, said: “Regional economic growth is impossible without Afghanistan. That is why these countries attach importance to Afghanistan, as it occupies a central position in the region.”

The Commonwealth of Independent States currently consists of nine full members and one associate member, including Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and the Central Asian republics.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan maintains diplomatic relations with most CIS member states. However, with the exception of Russia, none of these countries has formally recognized the Islamic Emirate as Afghanistan’s government.

CIS Secretary-General: Isolating Afghanistan ‘Not the Solution’
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SCO, UN Discuss Stability in Afghanistan and Central Asia

June 29, 2026
By TOLOnews
TV Network
28 June 2026

The two sides also discussed preparations for the upcoming SCO Heads of State Summit in Bishkek.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has announced that it has held talks with the United Nations on efforts to promote stability in Afghanistan and maintain peace and security in Central Asia.

According to an SCO statement, the meeting was held at the organization’s secretariat in New York, where participants discussed efforts to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan and support Central Asian countries in maintaining regional stability.

The SCO statement said: “The United Nations also briefed participants on its activities under the ‘Climate, Peace and Security’ framework, its efforts to promote stability in Afghanistan, and its support for Central Asian countries in maintaining lasting peace and stability across the region.”

The two sides also discussed preparations for the upcoming SCO Heads of State Summit in Bishkek, although the exact date of the meeting has yet to be announced.

The discussions come after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan previously called for the country’s full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Political analyst Sayed Moqaddam Amin said: “After the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the third major multilateral and influential organization in the region. It can play a very active role in global affairs and in Afghanistan. If Afghanistan gains full membership, it could have a significant impact on regional dynamics.”

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded on June 15, 2001.

Afghanistan has held observer status in the organization since 2012.

SCO, UN Discuss Stability in Afghanistan and Central Asia
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Islamic Emirate Envoy: Dialogue ‘Only Way’ to Resolve Issues with Pakistan

June 29, 2026
Bibi Amina Hakimi
TOLOnews’ Reporter
28 June 2026

Shakib told TOLOnews that the current Afghan government’s policy is to resolve all issues with Pakistan through dialogue.

While relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been marked by political and security ups and downs in recent months, officials of the Islamic Emirate continue to emphasize resolving differences through dialogue and mutual understanding.

Sardar Ahmad Shakib, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Islamabad, told TOLOnews that the current Afghan government’s policy is to resolve all issues with Pakistan through dialogue.

According to Shakib, the problems between Kabul and Islamabad have affected both countries, and the continuation of tensions has had the greatest impact on the lives of people on both sides of the hypothetical durand line.

“The problems that have arisen are harmful to both sides. They damage relations and affect people’s lives. We believe that these issues can be resolved through dialogue, and it is the policy of the Islamic Emirate to believe in dialogue,” Shakib told TOLOnews.

Political analysts also believe that dialogue and maintaining diplomatic channels can help prevent further escalation and create opportunities for expanding political, economic, and trade cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The issues between Kabul and Islamabad should be resolved through dialogue. Regional and neighboring countries have a responsibility to help Afghanistan and Pakistan settle their disputes through negotiations. They should seek documented evidence from all sides, and whichever party violates agreed principles and regulations should be engaged through dialogue,” said political analyst Gul Mohammad Din Mohammadi.

Another political analyst, Sayed Akbar Agha, said, “It is positive that problems are addressed through dialogue; however, Pakistan has not remained committed to the dialogue process.”

Although the latest round of official talks between representatives of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Pakistan was held in Urumqi, China, Pakistan subsequently carried out airstrikes on parts of Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths and injuries of a number of Afghan civilians, according to the report.

Islamic Emirate Envoy: Dialogue ‘Only Way’ to Resolve Issues with Pakistan
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Pakistan says it carried out ground operation, strikes along Afghan border

June 29, 2026
Hindustan Times/AP
Published on: Jun 29, 2026
The military did not say how the strikes were carried out.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces Sunday carried out an “intelligence-based” ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, followed by “calibrated strikes” against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, officials said.

The military did not say how the strikes were carried out, but Pakistan’s air force has been involved in the previous targeting of alleged militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.

In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country. There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.

It comes a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted the hideouts and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij, a term Pakistan uses for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence. The TTP is a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest operations are likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

Afghanistan has said that the June 10 strikes hit the eastern provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said 13 people were killed, including 11 children, one woman and an elderly man. Pakistan denied targeting civilian areas, saying its strikes were aimed at militant hideouts and infrastructure linked to recent attacks inside Pakistan and that 26 militants were killed.

The latest escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action between the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.

China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

Tarar said Sunday the security forces first conducted an intelligence-based ground operation against a group of “terrorists” near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “As a result of precise and skillful engagement, high value Khawarji Commander Khan Farosh” was killed along with three others.

He said that, acting on intelligence, precise targeting of terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij was also carried out in the border region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. Three targets in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces were destroyed during the precision strikes, killing 25 terrorists, he said.

Tarar said large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the targeted militant compound and hideouts were also destroyed.

He sad “Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority”.

Pakistan since last year has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of TTP and other militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Afghan Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.

Pakistan says it carried out ground operation, strikes along Afghan border
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Strong earthquake hits Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region, 20 injured

June 28, 2026

By Reuters

  • More than 20 injured, dozens of homes damages
  • Another quake reported in Pakistan earlier; ​more than 20 people injured
  • People leave their homes in panic ‌in Pakistan’s Swat district, witness says
June 27 (Reuters) – (This June 27 story has been corrected to say 20 people were injured, not no injuries, in headline and first bullet point)
A strong earthquake struck Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said, sending out tremors that could be ​felt from the capital Kabul across the border into neighbouring Pakistan.

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​There were no immediate official reports of casualties or damage ⁠from the earthquake, but checks were ongoing, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management ​Authority said in a statement.
The magnitude 6 quake occurred at a ​depth of 100 km (62 miles), EMSC said.
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Pakistan earlier on Saturday, according to EMSC.
More than 20 people were injured and dozens of houses were damaged ​in different areas of Musakhail district in Pakistan, the district’s deputy commissioner ​Abdul Razzaq Khajak told Reuters.
The disaster management authority in Pakistan’s Balochistan province said ‌around ⁠125 houses were damaged, adding that relief teams were sent to the affected area along with tents and food, solar panels, blankets and other items.
People ran out of their doors in panic in Swat district in northern ​Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, ​resident Daniyal Ahmad ⁠told Reuters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
“It was very huge here in Swat and it lasted ​for quite a long time,” he said.
“People came out ​of their ⁠houses and women and children were seen crying in panic.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the damage caused and ordered an urgent response from ⁠the ​authorities to help those affected, his office said.

Reporting ​by Sayed Hassib in Kabul, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Saleem Ahmed in Quetta, and Gnaneshwar ​Rajan, Angela Christy M in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Paul Simao

Strong earthquake hits Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region, 20 injured
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Former UK Envoy Warns Excluding Women Carries Lasting Costs for Afghanistan

June 28, 2026
Khaama Press

Former British ambassador to Afghanistan Laurie Bristow warned excluding women from education and public life threatens Afghanistan’s long-term future.

Former British ambassador to Afghanistan Laurie Bristow said Britain should continue engaging with the Taliban to understand the group’s positions, while maintaining that London should not formally recognize the currect administration.

Bristow stated on saturday that dialogue with the Taliban does not amount to endorsing its policies, warning that the exclusion of women and girls from education would have profound consequences for Afghanistan’s future.

Bristow said Britain has previously engaged with governments and non-state actors whose policies it opposed, arguing that communication remains necessary even amid fundamental disagreements.

“We do not agree with what the Taliban are doing, particularly against women and girls, and we must continue to explain the consequences of those actions,” he said.

He also warned that preventing women and girls from accessing education effectively deprives Afghanistan of half of its future workforce, undermining the country’s long-term economic and social development.

Bristow said the Taliban could not successfully govern Afghanistan while excluding half of society, adding that international engagement should continue to press the group to lift restrictions on women and girls and expand their participation in public life.

No country has formally recognized the Taliban government since the group returned to power in August 2021. Most Western governments have maintained limited diplomatic contacts focused on humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism and consular issues while linking broader engagement to improvements in human rights, particularly women’s rights.

Since regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including banning secondary and university education for females and limiting women’s participation in employment and public life. The United Nations has repeatedly described the measures as unprecedented and warned they are worsening Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis.

Former UK Envoy Warns Excluding Women Carries Lasting Costs for Afghanistan
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Pakistan says it carried out ground operation, strikes along Afghan border, killing 29 militants

June 28, 2026
By MUNIR AHMED and SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press
June 28, 2026

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces Sunday carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, followed by “calibrated strikes” against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, officials said.

In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country. There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence.

It comes a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideouts and safe havens of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest operations are likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

Strikes are the latest in cross-border violence between neighbors

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action between the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

Pakistan since last year has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of TTP and other militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Afghan Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul; Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

Pakistan says it carried out ground operation, strikes along Afghan border, killing 29 militants
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Taliban Officials to Head to Brussels for Talks on Afghan Deportees

June 22, 2026

Jeanna Smialek reported from Brussels, and Elian Peltier from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The New York Times

June 22, 2026

Taliban officials were issued visas to travel to Brussels, according to Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as they prepared for discussions with European Union officials about the deportation of Afghans from countries within the bloc.

Several nations, including Sweden, had urged that the meeting take place. It was coordinated by the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, but had been a point of diplomatic sensitivity and criticism.

Laurens Soenen, a spokesman for the Belgian foreign ministry, said that five visas had been issued for the Taliban delegation late on Monday afternoon. The visas are valid for a single day in Belgium, he said. Mr. Soenen would not confirm what date the delegation was expected to arrive, citing “reasons of security and public order.”

An Afghan government official said a delegation of five would travel to Brussels on Tuesday for a one-day trip aimed at discussing consular services for Afghan citizens in the European Union, including the return of some to Afghanistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

A diplomat based in Kabul who is not part of the Taliban government but who was briefed on the visit confirmed that it was scheduled for Tuesday.

European countries are among many that welcomed Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover in 2021 and that are now seeking to send them back. Last year alone, Iran and Pakistan forcibly returned nearly three million Afghans. The Trump administration has sought to deport Afghans to third countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, and Britain is also considering sending back Afghans who were denied asylum.

The United Nations this year described Afghanistan as a “graveyard for human rights.”

The European Commission has repeatedly declined to specify when the meeting with Afghan government officials might happen. Its officials have called the visit a “technical” get-together, and have reiterated that European Union member states had asked for the meeting.

No E.U. member state recognizes the Taliban administration as Afghanistan’s legitimate authority, and E.U. officials have for weeks sought to downplay the significance of the Taliban visit.

“We’re not talking about a political visit,” Gilles Bertrand, the bloc’s special envoy for Afghanistan, said in an interview this month with Amu TV, an Afghan news outlet. “This is not changing the E.U.’s policy of not recognizing the de facto authorities.”

Member states “are looking into ways to return persons who have committed serious crimes and who are possibly a security threat,” Markus Lammert, a spokesman for the European Commission, said at a news conference on Monday.

“What the commission can do is to help coordinate and facilitate contacts at a technical level,” Mr. Lammert added. “This is what we’re doing.”

Nearly five years after they swept back into power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have remained pariahs in international institutions, with no representation at the United Nations and other forums.

Only Russia recognizes the group as Afghanistan’s legitimate authority. China has maintained diplomatic ties with the Taliban administration but has grown increasingly frustrated with insecurity in the country, according to diplomats and security officials based in Afghanistan.

The European Commission has faced criticism over the meeting from more than 60 human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, which denounced in a statement what it called the bloc’s double game of “condemning Taliban abuses and pursuing accountability on one hand, while cooperating with the Taliban to forcibly return Afghans on the other.”

The decision to engage with the officials on deportations “overlooks the very real and well-documented risks that anyone returned to the country would face and their reasons for fleeing in the first place,” Amnesty International also said in a recent statement.

It argued that the move “flies in the face” of the 27-nation bloc’s human rights standards.

The Taliban have imposed some of the world’s harshest restrictions on women and girls, preventing them from enrolling in secondary education and getting access to most jobs.

Human rights groups say the rules — which also include mandates to wear full coverings, bans on visiting parks and prohibitions on traveling long distances without a male guardian — amount to the total erasure of women from public spaces, a condition they describe as “gender apartheid.”

Koba Ryckewaert contributed reporting.

Taliban Officials to Head to Brussels for Talks on Afghan Deportees
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Aid Workers Given One Month to Comply With Beard Rules at Islam Qala Border Center

June 22, 2026
Khaama Press

 

Humanitarian aid workers at the Islam Qala reception center in Herat have been given one month to comply with newly imposed beard regulations or risk losing access to the facility.

Taliban authorities at the Islam Qala reception center in Herat have given humanitarian aid workers one month to bring their beards into compliance with the administration’s requirements.

According to information released on Monday, the directive was discussed during a meeting between officials from the Taliban’s Department of Refugees and Repatriation and representatives of humanitarian organizations. The order applies to male staff members as well as male guardians accompanying female employees.

Sources said workers who fail to meet the requirements after the one-month deadline could be barred from entering the reception center.

The measure follows a rise in the detention of aid workers by Taliban morality police for shaving or trimming their beards. Taliban officials reportedly told aid agencies that the new rule is intended to prevent further confrontations and arrests.

The move comes amid a broader tightening of social restrictions in Herat. In recent months, authorities have increased enforcement of dress and behavior rules, with reports of women and girls being detained over alleged violations of prescribed clothing requirements.

Herat serves as the main gateway for thousands of Afghan returnees arriving from Iran each week. Numerous humanitarian organizations operate at Islam Qala, providing registration, transportation and emergency assistance to returning families.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that expanding restrictions on humanitarian workers could disrupt relief operations and hinder assistance to vulnerable Afghans arriving through one of the country’s busiest border crossings.

Aid Workers Given One Month to Comply With Beard Rules at Islam Qala Border Center
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UNICEF Warns Climate Change Increasing Child Malnutrition Risks in Afghanistan

June 22, 2026
Khaama Press

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that worsening climate-related shocks in Afghanistan are making living conditions increasingly difficult for children and heightening the risk of malnutrition across the country.

UNICEF said prolonged droughts, water shortages, extreme heat and severe weather events are reducing families’ ability to secure adequate food and clean water, placing additional pressure on vulnerable communities. The agency also warned that limited healthcare access and insufficient vaccination coverage are increasing the risks of disease and nutrition-related illnesses among children.

The warning comes as humanitarian agencies continue to report growing climate-related challenges across Afghanistan. Years of recurring drought, destructive floods and rising temperatures have damaged livelihoods, reduced agricultural production and weakened food security for millions of people.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently estimated that around 16 million people across Afghanistan could require access to safe drinking water and sanitation services in 2026. OCHA has warned that worsening water scarcity is increasing health risks, particularly for children and other vulnerable groups.

International aid organizations have repeatedly identified Afghanistan as one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental shocks have compounded the effects of poverty, economic hardship and humanitarian needs throughout the country.

Humanitarian agencies say children are among the hardest hit by the crisis, facing increased risks of malnutrition, waterborne diseases and disrupted access to education and healthcare. UNICEF called for greater investment in climate resilience, health services and nutrition programs to protect vulnerable families and reduce the long-term impact of climate-related emergencies on Afghanistan’s children.

UNICEF Warns Climate Change Increasing Child Malnutrition Risks in Afghanistan
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